With an odd midnight tornado at Albertville in Wright County on September 10, the 2002 tornado season
came to a close in Minnesota. The final tally for the year was 34. The majority of the tornadoes this
year occurred in central and northwestern Minnesota. Only four tornadoes in Minnesota struck south of the
Minnesota River and no tornadoes were sighted for the year northeast of Mille Lacs. The first tornado of
the year was a small tornado one mile north of Nashua in Wilkin County on May 28th. There was one tornado
ranked F2 on the Fujita Scale. This was a
brief tornado about 4 miles north of Rothsay in Wilkin County.
Nine tornadoes were rated F1 and 24 tornadoes were rated F0 on the Fujita Scale. The 10 year average of
tornadoes from 1989-1998 is 35. This has been the fewest number of tornadoes since 33 back in 2000. The
Chanhassen Office of the National Weather Service has comprised a
listing of the 2002 tornadoes. There is also a graphic of where
each tornado touchdown occurred.